Low-carb Breakfast Ideas

Before committing to a low-carb way of eating, breakfast was my highest sugar and highest carbohydrate meal of the day. From grits to English muffins to waffles to sugary yogurt to croissants...breakfast was always a carbohydrate and sugar feast. Not such a great way to begin each day.

Because I leaned so heavily on carbohydrates and sugar for my first meal of the day, I found low-carb breakfasts a real challenge. To make matters worse, I don't care for eggs, a staple for low-carb breakfasts. The only way I can consume eggs is if they're loaded up with lots of things I do care for like sausage, cheese, vegetables, condiments and seasonings.

Here are my two standard egg breakfasts. The first one is a weekend sort of meal as it takes a little time to prepare and the other is a make-ahead dish, great for busy mornings.

Low-carb Breakfast Tostadas

Makes 2 servings

2 La Tortilla Factory original size low-carb tortillas  (4 net carbs each)
4 large organic free-range eggs
2 - 3 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese
1 avocado, sliced
Salsa - as much as you want (find one that has no more than 1 gram of sugar per serving)
Full-fat sour cream - as much as you want, within reason
Fresh chopped cilantro - as much as  you want

Scramble the eggs like you usually do using heavy cream and a little water. When they are finished, heat your tortillas either directly on your gas burner (don't walk away and forget about them and start a fire) or heat them up in a skillet. I like to get them a little charred for more flavor.

Load your eggs onto the heated tortillas, then pile on the cheese, salsa, cilantro and avocado. This is by far my favorite way to eat eggs.

Basic Egg and Cheese Casserole 

For a make-ahead egg dish, I like this casserole I got out of a recipe book I bought at our favorite Lake Tahoe bed and breakfast. I wrote a detailed blog post about it last year. 

For my latest casserole, I used 6 scallions, sliced, a package of Jimmy Dean sausage, cooked and crumbled, and sharp cheddar cheese. 

On most mornings, I will pack up a few small squares of this and give it to my husband to eat at work as, like me, he has no appetite until later in the morning. 

This casserole makes about 6 to 8 servings. 

On mornings that I can't *do* the egg thing, I enjoy a plain yogurt with 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed, a little stevia and a squeeze of lemon or tiny drop of vanilla extract. 

At 5 carbohydrates per container, Siggi's is the lowest carbohydrate, lowest sugar, highest protein plain yogurt that I've found. It's called 'skyr' and it's similar to greek yogurt in taste and texture.  Siggi's skyr is from Iceland and is described on the Siggi's website as: 

"...the traditional yogurt of Iceland. It is made by incubating skim milk with live active cultures. The whey, the water naturally found in milk, is then strained away to make for a much thicker, creamier, concentrated yogurt. So to make just one cup of skyr, with all that water going out, you need 3-4 times the amount of milk required to make a regular cup of yogurt. As a result of this process skyr comes out with 2-3 times the protein count of standard yogurt."

I get my Siggi's at Whole Foods. 

These are my favorite sugarless and flourless breakfasts. 

What are yours? 

Adrienne